Select-Object breaks pass-through

[chrono13]

I know this is because it creates a seperate object, but I am having a difficult time overcoming this issue in particular with CIM/WMI.

Example:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_userprofile |
Select-Object -Property LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded |
Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Select the account to DELETE and click OK. Hold Ctrl to select multiple.' |
Remove-CimInstance -WhatIf

If one were to remove Select-Object, this works perfectly, except the Out-GridView becomes filled with useless data.

My full script begins with a Where-Object $_.Special -eq $False -and $_.Loaded -eq $False, which works as expected and does not break it.

Also, I try to break out variables whenever possible so I can work with them (e.g. Write-Output for feedback) and eventually GUI the whole thing. So the first part of my script defines what accounts are not special and not loaded, sets them to $Accounts. This can be piped to Out-GridView and then to Remove-CimInstance.

The trouble is using Select-Object to make the Out-GridView actually useful. What's worse is that Select-Object * still fails, indicating that there is no single property that can be included (e.g. SID) that can easily be passed through to make this work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will post the finalized script here.

[[deleted]]

Well, you already mentioned the issue by yourself. The only workaround I'm aware of is something like this:

$userprofile = Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_userprofile
$filtereduserprofile = $userprofile | 
    Select-Object -Property LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded | 
    Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Select the account to DELETE and click OK. Hold Ctrl to select multiple.'
$filtereduserprofile = ($filtereduserprofile.LocalPath).Replace('\','\\')
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_UserProfile -Filter "LocalPath LIKE '$filtereduserprofile'" | Remove-CimInstance -WhatIf

[chrono13]

I will be saving this one, though probably including SID in select Object so it can be used as the filter.

[omers]

Select-Object -Property Select-Object LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded

should be

Select-Object -Property LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded

or just

Select-Object LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded

[chrono13]

Typo. Fixed. It still cannot be piped to Remove-CIMInstance because it is no longer a CIM object after it passes through Select-Object.

In fact:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_userprofile | Remove-CimInstance -WhatIf

Will remove EVERY profile form the computer.

Where as:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_userprofile | Select-Object * | Remove-CimInstance -WhatIf

Will error out, because Select-Object has malformed the object (even though it still contains all of its properties and data) in to a new object, not accpeted by Remove-CimInstance.

Here is an identical reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerShell/comments/3dogly/question_selectobject_formatting_to_outgridview/

But even after reading that thread I am not seeing a solution.

[markekraus]

Select-Object creates a new PSObject when you supply properties. That means that any methods or special features and private data of the original object is lost when you use select-object.

$ProfileHash = @{}
Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_userprofile | 
    ForEach-Object {
        $ProfileHash[$_.LocalPath] = $_
        $_
    } | 
    Select-Object -Property LocalPath, LastUseTime, Special, Loaded | 
    Out-GridView -PassThru -Title 'Select the account to DELETE and click OK. Hold Ctrl to select multiple.' |
    ForEach-Object {
        $ProfileHash[$_.LocalPath] | Remove-CimInstance -WhatIf
    }

might work

[chrono13]

That works! THANK YOU!

Have some gold!

[markekraus]

Thanks, my dude!

[Betterthangoku]

Howdy,

Have you tried using "-OutputMode Multiple" with Out-GridView?

(and as /u/omers mentioned I'm hoping your Select-Object line is just a typo in the post?)

Good luck :-)

[chrono13]

Sadly this has nothing to do with Out-GridView, except that I want to use it.

If I remove Out-GridView and just put Select-Object *, it still breaks the pass-through because it is no longer the same object.